Leprosy - Introduction <-- Previous PageNext Page -->Types of Leprosy Leprosy has been here since the dawn of history. It has left its mark on multiple cultures, affecting "religion, literature, and the arts." (Sehgal 12) Though many cultures, including the Chinese, the Indians, and Africa all have noted diseases that have been concluded to be leprosy, it is the Bible that first truly describes the disease. Appearing in both the Old Testament and the New Testament (Jesus cured a leper during his travels through Israel) those who contracted it were shunned and feared throughout the land. But the Holy Lands were not the only places in the world affected; leprosy had been growing and spreading globally since the B.C. times. Romans who visited Egypt brought it back to Europe, where it spread like wildfire.
“The disease took on epidemic proportions in the 13th century, during the Crusades. Advancing troops and pilgrims are believed to have spread the disease…The disease has never been geographically localized to any one particular area of the world. " (Sehgal 16)
The cradle of the disease is unknown, but writings and verbal accounts from around 62 B.C. have caused scientists suspect that leprosy came from Asia Minor – present-day Eastern Asia. When it was brought to Europe, a hub for trading that housed millions, it grew to monstrous proportions.
“Patients were segregated into thousands of centers, which came to be known as lazarets or leropsarias…Containment was naturally considered the most practical means of controlling the disease. Leprosy came to be referred as ‘the living death’ and its victims were actually treated as though they had already died…Victims of untreated leprosy could actually develop a self-loathing, where they imagined that, at heart, they were unclean and under some sort of curse.” (Sehgal 16)
Afterwards, leprosy spread to the far corners of the earth. Though it exists in every continent even to this day, the hotspots are the poorer, third-world countries: Africa, South America, and parts of China and India. In the Western hemisphere it has been all but eradicated. --- Leprosy Index:
Leprosy - Introduction <-- Previous Page Next Page --> Types of Leprosy
Leprosy has been here since the dawn of history. It has left its mark on multiple cultures, affecting "religion, literature, and the arts." (Sehgal 12) Though many cultures, including the Chinese, the Indians, and Africa all have noted diseases that have been concluded to be leprosy, it is the Bible that first truly describes the disease. Appearing in both the Old Testament and the New Testament (Jesus cured a leper during his travels through Israel) those who contracted it were shunned and feared throughout the land.
But the Holy Lands were not the only places in the world affected; leprosy had been growing and spreading globally since the B.C. times. Romans who visited Egypt brought it back to Europe, where it spread like wildfire.
“The disease took on epidemic proportions in the 13th century, during the Crusades. Advancing troops and pilgrims are believed to have spread the disease…The disease has never been geographically localized to any one particular area of the world. " (Sehgal 16)
The cradle of the disease is unknown, but writings and verbal accounts from around 62 B.C. have caused scientists suspect that leprosy came from Asia Minor – present-day Eastern Asia. When it was brought to Europe, a hub for trading that housed millions, it grew to monstrous proportions.
“Patients were segregated into thousands of centers, which came to be known as lazarets or leropsarias…Containment was naturally considered the most practical means of controlling the disease. Leprosy came to be referred as ‘the living death’ and its victims were actually treated as though they had already died…Victims of untreated leprosy could actually develop a self-loathing, where they imagined that, at heart, they were unclean and under some sort of curse.” (Sehgal 16)
Afterwards, leprosy spread to the far corners of the earth. Though it exists in every continent even to this day, the hotspots are the poorer, third-world countries: Africa, South America, and parts of China and India. In the Western hemisphere it has been all but eradicated.
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Leprosy Index:
- Leprosy - A Brief History
- Types of Leprosy
- Leprosy-Symptoms
- Leprosy - Myths vs. Facts
- Leprosy - A Cure? - Leprosy - Works Cited